2010

I dislike the end of the year for several reasons. 1) Because Christmas is over and New Years just can't compete. 2) January is such a bleak, bleak month. 3) I do have a small sentimental bone (located somewhere in my foot, I believe) that I inherited from my dad that makes me a little sad whenever anything comes to an end.

2010 was without a doubt the most eventful year of my life. It was the absolute best, most worrisome, most exciting, and most frustrating all rolled into one giant blur.

A brief recap:

Early spring - Dallas and I are certain our futures belong to each other.

April - My house goes on the market.

May - We get married.

June - My house sells.

July - We get pregnant.

August - We purchase our land.

September - Dallas' house goes on the market.

October, November, December - We wait.

I feel like I sprinted through the first part of the year, gathering up new experiences and making memories as fast as my legs could carry me. But I finished that part of the race and gathered up my trophies. Now I'm on to the next event with my toe on the line, just waiting, waiting, waiting for that gun to go off again. I'm still all warmed up and anxious to go, so my muscles are especially twitchy as my energy continues to build while I wait and wait and wait.

I'm not at all used to this. I don't at all handle it graciously. Just ask Dallas!

So I'm rather pleased to see the end of this particular year. 2010 can kiss my boo-tay. We can only move forward from here, right? Severin is less than 90 days away from coming home. The more time passes, the more likely the house is to sell. The more time we're in this house, the faster we get the land paid off. It WILL happen in 2011.

I know patience is a virtue. It just doesn't happen to be one of mine.

Like father, like son?

Wasn't he just the cutest little boy EVER??

I have to find a polaroid sized picture frame for the nursery.

All along, and especially since we found out it's a boy, I've said that I imagine Severin will just be a miniature version of Dallas. I already know that he can't sit still, just like his daddy, and I really hope he gets his big blue eyes. We were both white-blond as kids (once our hair finally grew in), so in my head is this busy little blond haired, blue eyed boy running around in over-alls, playing on tractors.

This picture summed up my mental image perfectly so I was thrilled when Sharon said I could keep it.

Precious!

Reason I love Hubby #457

He gets a train conductor teddy bear for the baby and surprises me at work with it.



I love it because it's from him, and will always make me think of him and his thoughtfulness and excitement over the baby...

...and because it reminds me of my sweet Grandpa Stearman who also worked for BNSF and liked to wear over-alls and hats.



If I've ever had a regret in my life, it's that my boy won't get to know that precious man...

The cat is out of the bag!

We've decided on our son's name, and shared it with his grandparents this weekend. :)





One of the first things Dallas asked me when we found out we were pregnant was if we could use "Dale" as the middle name, whether it be a boy or a girl. His dad's middle name is Dale, and he really wanted to honor Kevin in this way. And I am certainly proud to do that.

Severin... really has no rhyme or reason. We just liked it the best. :)

LOL

I had a most enjoyable evening last night with some very sweet ladies.

I told you that Dallas and I had tried out a new church, yes? Last night, they had an event called LOL Christmas and my sweet friend Kahle invited my mom and I to attend with her, her MIL and her Aunt, and we had a great time!

They provided treats for the show, and I thought it was the neatest idea.. They handed out little plastic Christmasy baggies and you could fill them up with different types of popcorn, candy and pretzels to munch on throughout. Deeeelish!

This is Kahle with her treat bag.



Her little boy is due about a month after mine, and I figure they'll be good buddies.

Here's Momma in attendance.



That little booger makes a cane look good with her new highlights and skinny jeans with riding boots.

And this is the comedian.



She actually did have a face, but the ol iphone camera didn't like it, I guess. She was hilarious.

And speaking of.. I know what y'all are thinking. You're wondering why I've had so many crappy, blurry pictures with body parts cut off here lately. Didn't we just spend a million dollars on a new and fancy camera? Why yes, yes we did. But the camera bag is big and doesn't exactly fit in my purse and I haven't really gotten in the habit yet of understanding that to document my life, as I enjoy doing, the camera actually needs to be present.

I'm working on it.

Dapper Dan and Other Stuff

Have you ever seen such a handsome man in your whole entire life?! Rawr.



That's my very own Dapper Dan before my company Christmas party on Friday.

And this is us, using my superior self-portrait-on-the-i-phone taking skills.



Pretty good, right? ;)

Aaaaaand this gem is me being pregnant before the party. Dallas doesn't give the ol "say cheese", so I never know when he's actually snapping. I've been accused of sticking my tummy out for these pics, but that's actually just how I stand. What can I say? I'm no Grace Kelly.



We are SO good at pictures.

The next day we headed over to my folks house in sub-zero temperatures all by ourselves to unload some furniture. It had been in the spare bedroom, but that room is a nursery now, so all that other crap had been stacked in our living room all week and needed to get back over to the parents house.

Luckily for us, though, that guy from "The Hangover" was there and was cool enough to help Dallas unload.



Mom had - no lie - four different Christmas goodies being baked/made while we were there.

Can you pick out which one is me, Dallas and Tanner? Bahahaa!



Sunday, for me, involved going over to Grandma's to eat delicious vegetable soup, chocolate covered strawberries, and turtle pie. Then since we're old and pregnant, respectively, we sat on the couch and watched Christmas movies and dozed.

For Dallas, it involved some more ink.

Before:



After-ish:



He's obviously got a few more sittings to survive for this work in progress, but I, for one, dig it!

Picnik

My cousin, of Following the Drum fame, recently added a post about Picnik, the photo editing site, and included some pictures of herself and her darling little boys with Santa hats and fake moustaches.

I couldn't resist.

And since I don't, as of yet, have any precious little boys of my own to shop moustaches on to, or any nostalgia inducing photos on which to add snow, I just had to work with what I already had.

Which ain't much.

Well, folks. We've hit the 6 month mark.



Tanner even made me a special cookie to commemorate.



He's definitely gaining in size and strength, because it seems like I feel him constantly these days. His schedule is opposite of mine though, because he's most active when I'm being still.

Dallas laid his head on my tummy the other night, and the little booger kicked him in the face for a while, and then pushed something (his butt, I think) up HARD against him, like "gimme me some room, Dad!". Hehehee!! Mom got to feel a few good kicks the other day too, but he's been a little bit shy about saying "hi" to anyone else just yet. You can actually see some of the big movements too, which is just so odd to me. Still not used to my belly having a mind of its own... like in that alien movie...

We finally decided on a nursery set this weekend, and picked it up yesterday. Mom and Dad came over to help us unload since I'm not supposed to be lifting stuff. So Mom and I perched on the couch and played with the puppy boys while we watched the boys do some heavy lifting. Being pregnant and getting new hips have their perks!

This is what we got:



The dressers came already assembled. This was a surprise to me, but I was informed that since the furniture is not of the "particle board" variety, that's generally how they come. Huh. Guess I should shop at places other than Target more often.

Dallas got the crib set up last night, so we're in business! Well, sort of. The room is totally empty except for those three things. But whatever.. I've got till spring to fill it with adorable baby things, and load the drawers up with his teeny, tiny, swimmy trunks!



TEEEE HEEE HEEEEE!!!

Brudder

This morning:

Me: "Go fetch me a pop."

Tanner: "No. I will fetch you a poop!"

Typical.

As are these...



















Me: "I just blogged about you."
Tanner: "It better be nice."
Me: "It's mostly pics."
Tanner: "They better be nice."
Me: "Or else what!"
Tanner: "I will kill a baby seal."

I said I wasn't going to do it...

But I did it.

What is the deal with pregnant girls cutting all their hair off? Thanks to those spiffy pre-natal vitamins, mine has never been so long, so strong, or grown so quickly. At first, I made it a point to walk slow-mo directly into the wind so my locks could flow behind me runway style. But recently, I'd begun to feel more like Cousin It with all the long straightness just hanging there.. getting stuck in my armpits.. tangled in my purse strap.. I even inhaled it a few times.

I'd had enough!

This is me last week:



Aaaaaaaaand this morning:

Belated Thankfulness

I missed the blogger bandwagon of things I'm thankful for pre-Thanksgiving. So I'll do that now.

Ahem...

Things I'm thankful for!



My husband, in all his moustached glory.



My folks, who pulled off a stellar Thanksgiving even though mom was "lame".



My ornery brudder, who thinks I'm the best thing since sliced pepperjack cheese.



My sweet little miniature Grandma.



My new, and equally wonderful family.



And especially for this little punkin.

And speaking of little punkins... Guess who kicked hard enough for his daddy to feel??

Phoney Woes

I don't know about you guys, but us two McCarters use our phones for a lot of things. Texting, IM'ing, Facebooking, internet exploring, Ebaying, photo taking and sending, gaming, and even on rare occasions.. placing actual phone calls.

I'm lucky enough that my company provides me an iPhone, and it is awesoooooome, so that's what Dallas got too. And since I figured out that yahoo IM works from my computer directly to his iphone, and vice versa, I'm pretty much in constant contact whether he likes it or not.

That is, until he decided to put his phone on the hood of his truck while doing some work... and then forgetting where it was when he zoomed off.

*SIGH*

This sucks on several levels! 1) That thing wasn't insured. 2) He's not receiving the IM's I'm still sending out of habit. 3) We can't play words with friends.

So, since he's not getting all my super important, earth shattering messages, I've complied them for his later review here:

~ It's cold outside!

~ I had frost on my windshield this morning, yo. Bout killed a kid because it wasn't totally defrosted before I pulled out.

~ You know that line growing down from my button? I learned this morning that it's not where the Good Lord stitched me up, like you said. It's a "linea nigra". That's all I know.

~ Work has cookies.

~ How did we get pink pacifiers on the registry? I fixed it. Can't be having a wuss.

~ Amy hearts Dallas

~ *kick, squirm, poke*

~ Uh oh.. now there's a cookie on my desk.

~ It's not there anymore. I had it for second breakfast.

~ I love you!

~ SQUIRRELLLLLL!!! Hahaha... that's from Christmas Vacation AND because there's a squirrel in the tree outside my window.

Now. Dallas partly blamed me for the lost iphone because he said he left it out because he was getting "rapid fire IM's" and it wasn't worth pulling it out of his pocket every time it dinged. Initially, I didn't believe him. But upon closer inspection, he may actually be on to something.

However, I'm not the only one in this relationship known to send a random IM at an inopportune time. Some of my faves from D:

~ I just saw Jesus on a crotch rocket!

~ I look like an insurance salesman today.

~ I'm going to grow my sideburns into triangles

~ My hairs are getting so long it looks like I've got a Mississippi mudflap. *kicks dirt and spits*

~ *random thought and his very passionate response to it*

~ *random political update and his very passionate response to it*

~ *sings part of random song and includes his very passionate thoughts about it*

~ I love you


We're going to get him a new phone after work tonight.

I priced them today.

The last text I sent him said:

"I pity the fooooooool who falls in love with you, cause being in love wit yo a** ain't cheap!"

If you're not familiar with that little gem, you can catch up here:

Blame it on the Hormonies

Yeah, I know that's spelled wrong. Didn't you guys ever see My Big, Fat, Greek Wedding??

Dallas and I don't get very many weekends to ourselves as he's on call on average every other weekend, plus almost every single week night. So when we get some time off, we try to take full advantage. And this weekend? We were in baby shopping mode.

After our third attempt, we finally managed to start the registry process. Twice before, we'd walked in and then I'd gotten totally overwhelmed by the sheer volume of crap, the desire to attain only the most needed items of the crap, and the nagging question of which pieces of crap says "Baby Boy McCarter" best? A helpful little lass at Babies R Us gave us a "must have" check list that did help, though we still wrote off about half of that list as unnecessary thanks to the advice of some of those who have gone before us.

If any of you decide to check out the registry, you'll probably laugh. It's got to be about the most boring compilation of baby items on the market! I'm adverse to the idea of my kid having a theme or becoming a billboard, so everything we picked out is very neutral. From the beige color of the crib set we liked, to the value packs of white onsies, to the black and grey of the car seat (to match the interior of our vehicles, of course) to the browns of the pack and play (that will match the rest of our furniture). We also clicked on every single kind of diaper and formula available because we get 10% off anything on the registry that doesn't sell. ;)

Speaking of kids as billboards - I saw a bib recently that said "I'm the result of Mommy kissing Santa Clause". Ewww!!

Anyway, we've got that mostly done. Now it's time to shop nursery furniture. I struggled with this for two reasons: 1) It all looks the same, but apparently sports different and well hidden safety/future uses/quality. 2) I'm trying to decorate a room that doesn't exist yet.

So I'm trying to keep this in mind, while balancing the realities of starting out here where we have much less space. Like, 1/4 of the space. It's tricky. It's frustrating. It is, at times, overwhelming.

We left empty handed again. And y'all know how my mind works. A minor unknown quickly snowballs into full on catastrophe. That's where I ended up last night, bless Dallas' soul. As far as he knew, we were just watching "The Ultimate Fighter", but in my world, I was rearranging an already cramped living space, crunching numbers, spending dollars, worrying about things that won't happen for months yet, getting mad that the house, the boat and the timeshare are ALL still for sale, and for some reason... worrying about future bullies picking on my kid! What the?? Before I knew it, I was in tears for no real reason. Dallas was taken by surprise, but handled me with his usual patience and grace. But I just remained sort of weepy the rest of the night... and into this morning.

I have to blame the naughty hormonies. I assume most mothers-to-be are worried and nervous and scared. I'm only surprised its taken me this long!

We visited a new church yesterday, and the sermon was about being thankful and offering up praise no matter where you are in life. Pretty sure he didn't mean my literal, physical place, but I still felt like he was talking directly to me, and I've been praying for patience, grace and peace of mind while we wait.

And now, to end on a happy note! We had another appointment last Friday, at which I was 22 weeks. Everything is still perfect. I'm healthy, and so is the baby. He weighs a pound now, and is about 8 inches long. By the end of the month, he will have doubled in weight! I'm glad for this because all the pictures of babies at 22 weeks are skinny and wrinkly and alienesque. But, so, as he gains weight so will I! She said an average of a pound a week from here on out is pretty normal. Holy schneikies, I've already gained 15!!

And here is the current baby bump:



He's gone from feeling like little bubbles fizzing in my tummy, to a little poke here and there, to a full on squirming machine! I'm loving it, and can't wait for him to get strong enough to kick hard enough for his daddy to feel!

PS - I really do not mean to come off as whiney or ungrateful for the many things and blessings we DO have! I really am fully aware of all the good, nay, WONDERFUL things I have going for me. This is just a little way for me to get some of my worries and neuroses out... Saying them outloud or writing them down somehow makes them less daunting. Thanks for your patience!